Tory leader appeals for unity to beat critics

IAIN DUNCAN SMITH appealed for Conservative Party loyalty yesterday in an attempt to counter the first expression of unease at his early performance as Tory leader.

He issued a statement after Steve Norris, the former party vice-chairman, said that thousands of members would defect if Mr Duncan Smith took the party further to the Right.

It was reported in a Sunday newspaper that Kenneth Clarke, the unsuccessful leadership candidate, told a private party after his defeat by Mr Duncan Smith that the Liberal Democrats were now "in business".

Most of the members of the shadow cabinet appointed on Friday are from the Right and this has alarmed Tories like Mr Norris who want to the party to become more liberal.

In an interview in The Observer, Mr Norris, who backed Michael Portillo for leader, said: "Iain Duncan Smith says he understands the need to make the party decent and a party that we can like again, and I am ready to help him do that.

But Charles Kennedy, the Liberal Democrat leader, hinted at the line of attack he would develop in a brief comment yesterday.

"I think that the Conservatives in domestic party political terms are rather off the field of play for some time," Mr Kennedy told GMTV.

"A lot of people who are looking for competence and for integrity and for an internationalist, pro-European approach to their politics must be looking aghast at the direction at which the party appears to be heading."

Another Sunday newspaper reported that Mr Clarke asked what would happen if the Tories slipped to 23 per cent in the polls.

A member of Mr Clarke's leadership election campaign team, who attended the party at which he is said to have made the comments, said yesterday he did not recognise them and that he read them "with disbelief".

In response to the disquiet, Mr Duncan Smith appealed for unity. A Conservative Party spokesman said: "The vast majority of the party want to put the leadership election behind them and to give their full support to the new leader. We hope that Steve Norris is among them."

Mr Norris was made a party vice-chairman by William Hague after he came second to Ken Livingstone in the London mayoral elections.

All Mr Hague's appointments became invalid when Mr Duncan Smith became leader last week, and there is no suggestion that Mr Norris will be given another job under the new regime.

Mr Duncan Smith will today name the rest of his front-bench team. The list will include three shadow cabinet appointments - agriculture, work, and shadow leader of the Commons - not made on Friday because people could not be contacted.